Stop the War's website 'disabled by pro-Israeli hackers'

Stop the War's website has been disabled by hackers because of its opposition to Israel's bombardment of Gaza, the campaign group has said.

It was disabled at the weekend and forced the group to stage a temporary website. The main site was still out of order on Tuesday morning.

Its Facebook groups were also erroneously told that a demonstration against the Israeli military action had been cancelled, while misleading YouTube videos said the same thing

Stop the War believes pro-Israeli groups could be behind the internet campaign, although a spokesman admitted it had no proof this was the case.

A spokesman said of the cyber-war it was facing: "It's a well-known tactic. The same thing happened to us before our anti-Iraq war protests in 2003. We obviously can't prove any connection but the timing would suggest that it's a supporter of Israel."

The spokesman told The Independent: "At the same time that our website was under attack, a number of videos went up on YouTube which claimed the demonstration had been cancelled. Someone posted notices on our Facebook groups saying the same thing."

While Stop the War claims to have a straightforward, impartial pacifist agenda, critics claim it is allied with the Palestinian cause.

In February 2003, weeks before the invasion of Iraq, Stop the War led a number of groups that spearheaded the largest political demonstration ever seen in London. Somewhere between 750,000 and two million people turned out.

Earlier this month between 10,000 and 75,000 - the figures that the police and protesters gave respectively - gathered near the Israeli embassy to protest against the country's bombing of Gaza.

The Palestinian death toll from Israel's action since December 27 has reached 900, including at least 380 civilians, medical officials said on Monday. Israel said 13 Israelis had died, including three civilians killed by rockets launched from Gaza and 10 soldiers.